Spurt in road accidents
Save the passengers
The surge in road accidents across the country in recent times is attributed by experts to the deplorable condition of roads, poorly maintained vehicles, untrained drivers, lack of monitoring, violation of traffic laws and corruption of the law enforcers. A spate of road accidents all over the country everyday has created panic among the short and long distance commuters. The death of 44 students in one of the deadliest road accidents in living memory at Mirsarai in Chittagong has shocked the people of all strata of the society. The pick-up truck carrying the students skidded to a roadside ditch while the driver was engaged in talking over cell phone. There was also allegation that the ill-fated pick-up truck was being driven by a helper at the time of the accident. Home Minister Advocate Sahara Khatun recently emphasised the need for modernisation and strengthening of the Highway Police to stop frequent road accidents in the country. Observers said the traffic police on the roads and highways are always negligent of their duties. They often remain occupied in taking bribe from traffic violaters than maintaining discipline on the roads, they alleged. At least 11 police personnel including two sergeants of highway police in Sirajganj were removed from duty recently on the alleged charges of extortion and other irregularities. According to a recent study of Accident Research Center of Bangladesh University of Engineering Technology, some 10,000 to 12,000 people are killed in road accident caused to about 35,000 injuries in Bangladesh every year. The annual fatality rate from road accidents in Bangladesh is 85.6 per 10,000 vehicles which contrasts poorly even with 47.7 in Myanmar and 62.7 in Nepal. The fatality rate in Bangladesh from road accidents specially contrasts with the developed countries where the rate is below 3 per 10,000 vehicles, the study report said. Bangladesh is ranked as one of the most road accident-prone countries in the world. The national cost estimates of road accidents in Bangladesh is Taka 70 billion, which is about 1.5 per cent of the GDP and three times the annual expenditures of the Roads and Highway Department. It needs no explanation why it is imperative to go all-out to prevent the accidents from happening, according to the study. The first area of prevention must be improvement of the enforcement of traffic laws. The traffic police department must be made truly motivated to apply the rules with an eye for catching the offenders such as vehicles that overload, engage in speeding or the operators who do not maintain their vehicles,it said. The report suggested that the training of drivers ought to be under rigorous inspection. Drivers are known to get their licenses too easily in Bangladesh through bribery. Thus, even drivers with legitimate licenses in many cases are otherwise not dependable, as they have got their licenses without going through proper tests to establish their fitness. According to one assessment, the number of licensed drivers is some 0.9 million. But some 0.4 million are driving without proper licenses or no licenses at all. This alone should put into sharp focus one of the main causes of road accidents from untrained or poorly trained drivers operating freely on the roads, it noted. This practice must be put to an end and also the corruption in certifying vehicles as fit for movement in exchange of bribes. Hundreds of thousands of vehicles long past their operating life are seen on the roads. It is incredible but a fact that many of them do not even approach the authorities for renewing their fitness certificates but mange as and when necessary by bribing the traffic policemen on the roads. Sometimes, these vehicles get fitness certificates and also renew them through similar bribery at the offices of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA). It should be obvious why the sternest of steps need to be taken to take these unfit vehicles off the roads for eliminating their accident-making potentials, it said. Drivers, the report went on to say, always try to blame road conditions, equipment failure, or other drivers for those accidents. When the facts are truthfully presented, however, the behavior of the implicated driver is usually the primary cause. Most are caused by excessive speed or aggressive driver behavior, according to the report. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina came down heavily on those who allow helpers to drive vehicles and in the process lives are lost. Such persons should be given exemplary punishment. “Unauthorised driving and running vehicles without licence must be stopped. Talking over mobile phones while driving must have to be strictly controlled. We’ve asked law enforcement agencies to take action against those found using mobile phones while driving,” she added.
-With The New Nation input
